1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pet leashes; and more particularly, to an electroluminescene wire illuminated pet leash especially suited for use during dusk or nighttime hours to enhance the safety of pets and their owners while walking in dimly lit environments where rapidly moving vehicles are encountered.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Walking a pet during dusk or nighttime hours can be hazardous in neighborhoods where automobiles are encountered. Illuminating characteristics of the automobile headlamps, generally afford an illumination range of approximately 25 to 50 feet. This illumination range can be significantly reduced by mist or fog, or bends in the road. Despite improvements to vehicle headlights, pets and their owners are oftentimes not recognized by automobile drives until the distance between the automobile and the pet is small.
Several approaches devised by prior art workers attempt to provide solutions for this hazardous common activity. These approaches include 1) use of pet collars that are illuminated or reflective; 2) use of leashes which are illuminated or reflective; or 3) a combination of both features. None of these solutions suggest indicating the whereabouts of a pet owner, a leash and a pet attached to the leash via a flexible, spirally wound electroluminescent illuminator.
Various types of reflectively illuminated dog collars and leashes are known in the art. These reflectively illuminated dog collars and leashes are not equipped with batteries, light bulbs or other lighting elements; but depend instead on light from an external source to trigger reflective illumination. Rapidly moving vehicles, such as bikes, scooters, joggers and the like, encountered by pets and their owners while walking in dimly lit environments such as bike paths, country roads, parking garages and the like, are not always equipped with light emitting equipment. Within these environments, the advantages of power-illuminated dog collars and leashes over those of the reflective variety are readily apparent.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,336 to Bergman discloses a reflective dog collar which is not illuminated but which utilizes a highly reflective material in the form of dots of different colors that are encapsulated in plastic. U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,521 to Puiello discloses a reflective safety harness for quadruped animals. The safety harness includes a pair of identical sheet elements with a light reflective surface mounted on opposite sides of the animal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,156 to Kupperman et al. discloses a reflective animal leather leash with a transparent polyvinyl chloride strip having a light reflective prism design on one surface. U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,548 to Cohn discloses a safety device for animals via a pet collar. The pet collar utilizes “retro-reflective” threads with glass reflective elements in a flexible webbing to form a pet leash. U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,233 to Bozzaco discloses a safety collar for pets that has highly reflective flexible elements large enough in length to extend beyond the outer surface of the pet's hair. U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,556 to Edwards discloses an illuminating dog safety system that comprises a pet collar having a reflective strip that extends the majority of the collar's length. The safety system further comprises a harness adapted to be worn around an animal's torso and having upper and lower reflective straps.
Various types of illuminated dog collars are known in the art. Some of these heretofore devised and utilized illuminated dog collars employ bulb or other power sources for illumination. Representative dog collars of this variety are discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,201 to Chao, et al. discloses an illuminated collar for pets and the like. The disclosed collar is adapted to be worn by a dog, cat, or other domesticated animal. The collar includes a row of small electric lamps studded around the collar in a manner inducing visibility in darkness or subdued daylight. The circuitry includes a replaceable dry cell battery and a manually operated switch which is mounted on the collar. The disclosed collar is not illuminated by way of an electroluminescent wire illuminated device, but instead utilizes a bulb device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,692 to Kuhnsman et al. discloses an illuminated pet leash comprising a non-opaque tube that contains one or more bundles of optical fibers. A light bulb is connected adjacent to the leash handle to shine light into the tube and illuminate the optical fibers therein. The pet leash is not illuminated by an electroluminescent wire device, but instead is illuminated by a fiber-optic illumination device. Specifically, the fiber-optic illumination device functions to redirect light from a bulb power source and not from an electroluminescent wire.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,110 to Lo Cascio (hereinafter, the '110 patent) discloses a pet collar that includes a light source and a power source attached to a strap. A closure device for the collar acts as a switch, such that power is provided to the light source to illuminate the collar when the ends of the collar are connected by the closure device. The light source utilized by the '110 patent is not that derived from an electroluminescent wire illuminated device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,552 to Hayden discloses an electrically lighted pet leash that is composed of a transparent, flexible tube containing a string of small electric light bulbs mounted in parallel between two insulated wires. The leash is looped at one end to form a choker collar and at a second end to form a handle. The string of lights extends throughout the leash to illuminate both the collar and the handle. A small rechargeable battery is mounted adjacent to the handle for operating the lights. The patented device does not utilize an electroluminescent wire illuminated device, but rather utilizes a small bulb lighted device for illumination.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,456 to Heyman et al. discloses an illuminated pet collar in which multiple lights are mounted within a flexible, light-permeable tube that extends about the perimeter of the collar. A housing mounted on one end of the tube contains a circuit and a battery for operating the lights. This multiple light device does not use an electroluminescent wire illuminator in the pet leash.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,074,251 and 5,140,946 to Pennock et al. discloses an illuminated pet collar. The illuminable pet collar includes a housing for a battery power source and an elongated, flexible, pliable, transparent plastic display tube having a plurality of miniature lights spaced apart and operably connected therewithin along substantially the entire length of the display tube. The housing includes a stem or extension tube extending from each end thereof that is sized to be snugly inserted into each end of the display tube. Electrical connection between the battery and the outer surface of one stem communicates electrical power to the lights, which are parallel-wired within the display tube. The source of illumination does not involve an electroluminescent wire and instead the patent utilizes a miniature light illumination device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,457 to Spencer discloses material with enhanced visibility characteristics. This flexible visibility enhancing material is provided combining the advantages of a light reflective component and a luminescent component. The material includes a first layer of prismatic light reflective plastic material having an underlying surface formed with a plurality of minute prism-like formations projecting therefrom at regular spaced intervals and an overlying substantially smooth light transmissive surface. Bonded, as by heat sealing, to the first layer is a second layer of plastic luminescent material contiguously and integrally attached to the underlying surface of the prism-like formations, and generally coextensive therewith. The visibility enhancing material simultaneously radiates luminescent light from the second layer, through the underlying surface of prism-like formations, and further through the smooth light transmissive surface. Light is reflected from the prism-like formations through the smooth light transmissive surface. In one embodiment, a leash for controlling and restraining a pet animal includes a flexible elongate member comprised of the visibility enhanced material. In another embodiment, the second layer is replaced with a layer of luminescent material, which can be selectively energized to become luminous. Since the transparent reflective material is a molded plastic of prismatic construction it is rigid with the electroluminescence light source positioned underneath the rigid transparent material. The disclosed device is inflexible and is not readily capable of being twisted and flexed. Furthermore, any twisting and bending action would result in separation of the reflective element from the luminescent element.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,448 to Spencer et al. discloses visibility enhancing material that combines the advantages of a light reflective component and a luminescent component. The material includes a first layer of prismatic light-reflective plastic material having an underlying surface formed with a plurality of minute prism-like formations that project therefrom at regular spaced intervals and an overlying substantially smooth light transmissive surface. A second layer of plastic luminescent material is contiguously and integrally attached to the underlying surface of prism-like formations and generally coextensive therewith. The visibility enhancing material simultaneously radiates luminescent light from the second layer through the underlying surface of the prism-like formations and through the smooth light transmissive surface. Light is reflected from the prism-like formations through the smooth light transmissive surface. In one embodiment, a leash for controlling and restraining a pet animal includes a flexible elongate member comprised of the visibility enhanced material. Since the transparent reflective material is a molded plastic of prismatic construction it is rigid with an electroluminescence light source positioned underneath the rigid transparent material. The leash device disclosed in the patent does not have flexible properties and therefore is not readily capable of being twisted and flexed. Further any twisting and bending action will undesirably cause the reflective element to separate from the luminescent element.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,082 to Wade (hereinafter, the '082 patent) discloses an animal collar that includes the utilization of illuminating devices. These illuminating devices include light emitting diodes, liquid quartz strips, or electric lamps. A plurality of solar cells are provided on the outside of the collar and function to recharge the power supply connected to the illuminating devices. The '082 patent does not utilize an electroluminescent wire illumination device, but rather utilizes light emitting diodes, liquid quartz strips, or electric lamps for illumination. U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,075 to Passarella et al. discloses a pet leash and flashlight combination. This flash light integrated pet leash is not an electroluminescent wire illuminated pet leash.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,927 to Gokey discloses an illuminated animal collar. The illuminated collar comprises: a collar for placement on an animal; at least one light emitting diode placed on the outer exterior of the collar to be visible when the collar is worn; a motion sensitive switch designed to respond to the motion of the animal an on/off switch to selectively turn on or off battery power to the circuit; a battery; a timing circuit; and a low battery power detection circuit. The light emitting diodes, motion sensitive switch, on/off switch, battery, timing circuit and low battery detection circuit are connected together. An intermittent flashing of the light emitting diodes will thus be established for constant movement. The low battery detection circuit sounds an audible alarm to warn the user of a low battery. The disclosed illuminated collar is illuminated by means of a diode and is not illuminated by way of an electroluminescent wire illuminated device. Furthermore, the patent does not disclose an illuminated pet leash.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,106 issued to Tangen discloses a lighted animal collar that includes a plurality of separate light emitting assemblies or housings at spaced intervals along the collar. Each of the assemblies includes a light emitting diode, battery source, reflectors and a translucent cover. This lighting assembly illuminated collar does not suggest an illuminated pet leash and collar. Moreover, the collar is not illuminated by way of an electroluminescent wire illuminated device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,044 to Nasser, Jr. et al. discloses illumination of a leash handle by way of a flashlight. The flashlight is attached to the top portion of the handle, in a forward-facing direction, such that the light beam from the flashlight can be pointed in any desired direction by the hand holding the leash. The illumination device does not use an electroluminescent wire to illuminate the leash, but rather utilizes a flashlight device. The flashlight acts to illuminate the leash handle by localizing the light beam in the direction the leash is pointed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,382 to Barbera et al. (hereinafter, the '382 patent) discloses an illuminated pet harness having straps with internal cavities that contain fiber optic cores. A plurality of lenses are provided on a top layer of the straps for projecting light when the fiber optic core is illuminated by a light bulb. The '382 patent's illumination device employs fiber optic illumination rather than illumination via an electroluminescent wire device. Furthermore, the invention discloses the illumination of a harness and does not further disclose the illumination of a pet leash.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,029 to DuBois et al. discloses a combined retractable leash and flashlight which is an apparatus having a retractable leash and an integral light. The apparatus has a housing section with a handle and a light connected to the top front. A rechargeable battery is removably connected to the housing in the handle. The retractable leash section is pivotally mounted to the housing section. A leash is connected to the reel for extension and retraction relative to the housing section. The retractable leash flashlight combination device does not use an electroluminescent wire for illumination.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,807 to Keeler discloses an illuminated pet leash for allowing a pet owner to easily and remotely locate the pet leash. The device includes an elongated non-opaque tube having a bundle of optical fibers longitudinally disposed therein and being illuminated by a remote transponder operable in locating the pet leash. This is not an illuminated leash for walking a dog in a darkened environment. This is a remotely activated pet leash finer and does not use an electroluminescent wire for illuminating a pet leash while a pet is being walked during night-time hours.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,095 to Greves (hereinafter, the '095 patent) discloses an illuminated pet leash provided with an elongated strap at one end that is adapted for connection to a collar, and a second end adaptable for forming a handle. A relatively flat and flexible light source is provided along one side of the strap for illuminating the leash. The light source is operated by a power source attached to the strap. The light source is a flat strip of electroluminescene type and may be either permanently or releasably attached to the strap. In another embodiment, the elongated leash strap has two light sources extend along both of its sides. In yet another embodiment, the elongated strap is round in cross-section, and the light source spirals around the circumference of the strap for the extent of the leash. In another embodiment, the illuminated pet leash includes an elongated strap having at least one side, and first and second ends. One end of the strap is attached to a handle having a grip portion and a housing portion with first and second sides. A pair of light sources are positioned on the sides of the housing, and are electrically connected to a power source to illuminate the handle. The pair of light sources are either attached directly to the handle, or to a cover that is attached to the handle. The light sources on the handle or cover are formed in a variety of patterns such as circular, spiral or zig-zag formation. The electroluminescent devices used in the '095 patent disclosure are flat and are generally inflexible in nature, as opposed to an electroluminescent wire which is not disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,968 to Caswell discloses a motion activated rotatable illuminator. The disclosed illuminator has all of its electrical components mounted within a housing that is secured to the rotatable object. Those components include a light source, an electrical power source, a first switch activated by intermittent motion of the housing and a second switch activated by centrifugal forces caused by rotation of the rotatable object. The illuminator components also include a timer which has a timing cycle and which is operably connected relative to the first switch and the second switch such that activation of either the first switch or the second switch initiates that timing cycle of the timer and enables the flow of electricity from the power source to the light source during the timing cycle. The light source can include an electro luminescent strip or light emitting diodes. As noted the illuminator can be mounted on a rotatable object, or can be used by wearing on a person, pet or other device to provide a warning or locator light. The electroluminescent device used is a strip, not an electroluminescent wire and therefore is not very flexible or twistable.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,849 to Macedo et al. discloses a device to removably attach a flashlight to a retractable dog leash. The device includes a flexible elongated base member having a top and a bottom side. An elastic member attached to the top side of the elongate member creates an aperture there between for removably inserting a flashlight. Two straps are attached to the bottom of the based member for detachably connecting the elongated base member to a handle of the retractable leash. This flashlight attached pet leash does not use an electroluminescent wire illumination in the pet leash.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,498 to Smierciak et al. discloses a night safety pet illumination marker. In this disclosure, a pet collar forms a linearly elongated substrate spine upon which are mounted a series of illumination elements comprising light emitting diodes around the perimeter of collar powered by battery power. A light sensor switch is in series between a power source and the illumination elements breaks the electrical circuit upon sensing of sufficient ambient light levels. The illumination elements may be flashed with a timing circuit. The light emitting diodes may be placed along length of leash controlled by an on/off/automatic switch with light sensor. The patent does not disclose a pet leash, but discloses a diode illuminated collar. Furthermore, the disclosed illuminated collar does not use an electroluminescent wire illumination device, but instead utilizes a diode illumination device.
Numerous patents disclose different types of retroreflectors. However, only those reflective devices that have a flexible nature, and therefore suited for pet leashes, are discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,985 to Bingham discloses a launderable retroreflective appliqué that comprises a layer of transparent microspheres, a specular reflective layer optically connected to each microsphere, and a binder layer into which the microspheres are partially embedded. Resins disclosed as being suitable for use as binder layers include polyurethane, polyesters, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl chloride, acrylics, or combinations thereof. The specular reflective layers are composed of two succeeding layers of dielectric material. The layers have varying refractive indices and are composed of a variety of binary metal compounds including oxides, sulfides, and fluorides.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,335 to Kuney discloses microsphere-based retroreflective articles having high retroreflective brightness at narrow divergence or observation angles, i.e., up to 0.5 degrees. The article made by selection of microspheres having defined combinations of average diameter and average refractive index. This patent teaches (column 4, lines 18-23) that variation in the size of the microspheres will increase the observation angle or divergence angle of the resultant retroreflective article.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,304 to Huang et al. discloses a retroreflective article. The retroreflecive article has corner cubes and flexibility. The article can be applied over irregular surfaces by using an optically clear, aliphatic polyurethane polymer. The aliphatic polymer has a plurality of hard chain segments of the formula —C(O)N(H)—C6H10—N(H)C(O)—.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,262 to Li discloses a launderable retroreflective appliqué. The appliqué employs a reflector that comprises elemental aluminum or elemental silver on the backside of the microspheres. The appliqué comprises a monolayer of metal-coated microspheres partially embedded in and partially protruding from a binder layer that comprises a flexible polymer having hydrogen functionalities and one or more isocyanate-functional silane coupling agents. The disclosed flexible polymers include urethane-based polymers such as isocyanate-cured polymers or one or two component polyurethanes and polyols.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,101 to Li discloses a launderable retroreflective appliqué which comprises a binder layer formed from an electron-beam curable polymer and typically one or more crosslinkers and silane coupling agents. Electron-beam curable polymers include chlorosulfonated polyethylenes, ethylene copolymers comprising at least about 70 weight percent of polyethylene such as ethylene/vinyl acetate, ethylene/acrylate, and ethylene/acrylic acid, and poly(ethylene-co-propylene-co-diene) polymers. Glass microspheres are embedded in the cured binder layer, and a specular reflective metal layer is disposed on the embedded portions thereof. This appliqué is inverted and light comes through the binder layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,790 to Nakajima discloses a microsphere-based retroreflective article. The retroreflective article comprises a monolayer of microspheres partially embedded in, and protruding from, a binder layer and specular reflector underlying the microspheres, wherein the monolayer of microspheres comprises a mixture of a first class of microspheres having a first refractive index and a second class of microspheres having a second refractive index wherein the second refractive index is higher than the first refractive index. As a result, the sheeting exhibits superior observation angle angularity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,108 to Nestegard et al. discloses a retroreflective polymer coated flexible fabric material and method of manufacturing the same. The retroreflective polymeric coated flexible fabric material has a retroreflective layer and a polymeric compatibilizing layer welded to a polymeric coated outer surface of a flexible fabric material. The compatibilizing layer provides an intermediate layer between the retroreflective layer and the flexible fabric material, creating suitable bond strength between dissimilar polymers. Flexible fabric materials are polyester, nylon or cotton. The fabric is coated with highly plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or ethylene acrylic acid copolymer (EAA) that are flexible, durable, and resistent to abrasion. The retroreflective prismatic elements layer include acrylic polymers such as poly(methylmethacrylate); polycarbonates; cellulosics; polyesters such as poly(butyleneterephthalate); poly(ethyleneterephthalate); fluoropolymers; polyamides; polyetherketones; poly(etherimide); polyolefins; poly(styrene); poly(styrene) co-polymers; polysulfone; urethanes, including aliphatic and aromatic polyurethanes; and mixtures of the above polymers such as a poly(ester) and poly(carbonate) blend, and a fluoropolymer and acrylic polymer blend. The compatibilizing layer that is suitable for bonding between a retroreflective layer and a flexible fabric material include polyurethane, ethylene methyl acrylate copolymer, ethylene N-butyl acrylate copolymer, ethylene ethyl acrylate copolymer, ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, polymerically plasticized PVC, and polyurethane primed ethylene acrylic acid copolymer. This is a reflective fabric, not a pet leash.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,355 to Voskoboinik et al. discloses electroluminescent light sources. A cable-like electroluminescent light source comprises at least two electrodes mutually disposed in such a way as to create between them an electric field when a voltage is applied to them; at least one type of pulverulent electroluminophor dispersed in a dielectric binder and disposed in such proximity to the electrodes as to be effectively excited by the electric fields when created and to emit light of a specific color, and a transparent polymer sheath encasing the electrodes and the electroluminophor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,400,093 to Baumberg et al. discloses a flexible electro-luminescent light source with active protection from moisture. The substantially flexible, electro-luminescent light source comprises an electrode assembly, dielectric and electro-luminescent layers, with one outer, substantially flexible layer formed of insulating transparent material. The light source is provided with a heating element, and a power supply unit coupled to the electrodes' assembly and to the heating element. The power supply unit selectively operates the electrodes' assembly and the heating element, such as to heat the vicinity of the electrodes' assembly thereby maintaining desired temperature conditions in the vicinity of the light source and thereinside.
Notwithstanding the efforts of prior art workers to construct pet leashes and pet collars that are illuminated by incident light, there remains a need in the art for a flexible pet leash that provides a significant quantum of reliable bright illumination at night-time hours to provide safety when a pet is being walked. A flexible illuminated pet leash, having a robust construction that withstands tensile and torsion forces attending leash usage, has long been needed in the art. Also needed is a flexible, electroluminescent wire illuminated pet leash capable of maintaining high luminosity when subjected to surface abrasion from frictional forces created by contact of the leash with objects having rough exteriors, such as the ground, flooring, posts, trees and the like.